Re - Radioactivity in Household Products

[Bruce Pickett <SHEA136@KGV2.bems.boeing.com>]

 Colette Tremblay wrote on 10/26:

 >I think some ceramic items (decorative plates, etc) can be radioactive. I
 >don't know if the radio-isotopes are in the clay or in the glaze materials.
 >I guess that the ocurrence of radioactive material in such items must vary
 >widely according to their origin.

 This refers to ceramic plates and other dinnerware manufactered by a number of
 companies, including the "Fiesta" brand.  Whereas "fiestaware" came in most of
 the colors (colours) of the spectrum, the orange, the yellow, and to
 some extent, the white, contained varying degrees of uranium in the glaze.  It
 was the uranium that provided the brilliant orange color which really wasn't
 available in other pigments.  For many years, the principal commercial use of
 uranium was as a pigment.  In addition to ceramic glazes for dinnerware, it has
 been used in glazes on cloisonne jewelry for the same reasons.

 Bruce Pickett
 The Boeing Company,  Seattle, WA
 shea136@kgv2.bems.boeing.com